System and method for providing vector terms related to instant messaging conversations

ABSTRACT

The method according to one embodiment of the present invention includes retrieving one or more terms or phrases comprising an instant messaging conversation in which one or more users are participating. One or more term vectors comprising one or more vector terms associated with the one or more retrieved terms or phrases comprising the instant messaging conversation are generated and one or more vector terms are selected from said term vectors. The one or more selected vector terms are displayed to the one or more users participating in the instant messaging conversation. An indication of a user selection of a given displayed vector term is received and one or more content items responsive to the selected vector term are identified.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention disclosed herein relates generally to providing searchresults to a user. More specifically, the invention relates to providingvector terms that may be used to retrieve content associated with one ormore terms or phrases in an instant messaging conversation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Current technologies allow users to communicate online via instantmessaging applications, which provide users with the ability tocommunicate using text messages in near real-time. A first user of aninstant messaging application may download or otherwise access aninstant messaging client via a network, which allows the user to enterone or more terms or phrases. The terms or phrases entered by the firstuser may be delivered over a network, such as the Internet, to a seconduser that also downloads or otherwise accesses an instant messagingclient that a given instant messaging application provides. The instantmessaging client of the second user displays the terms or phrases thatthe first user enters.

Similar to spoken conversations, conversations between a first andsecond user via an instant messaging application may include a pluralityof terms that pertain to a variety of topics, such as weather, sports,cars, vacations, clothing, computers, employment, etc. The terms orphrases that appear in a given instant messaging application may berelated to a variety of content that a given user may also access via anetwork, such as the Internet. For example, in a given instant messagingconversation, a first user may deliver a second user a variety of termsor phrases, in which the term “Caribbean cruise” appears. The term“Caribbean cruise” may be associated with a variety of content itemsthat the user may access via the Internet, including, but not limitedto, advertisements, web pages, video clips, etc. The term “Caribbeancruise” may also be associated with one or more related terms orphrases, such as “Jamaica vacations,” “Nassau Vacations,” “Bahamas,”“summer vacations,” etc., with which a user may provide to a searchengine to access additional content.

Current instant messaging and search techniques, however, do notidentify related terms or phrases with which a user may access contentassociated with the one or more terms or phrases appearing in a giveninstant messaging conversation. A user of an instant messagingapplication that wishes to identify content associated with a given termor phrase appearing in an instant messaging conversation is required toperform a search, such as through the use of a browser, to identifycontent responsive to a term or phrase. For example, a user that wishesto identify content, such as web pages or advertisements, responsive toa given term or phrase appearing in an instant messaging conversation inwhich the user is participating is required to enter the term or phraseinto a search engine that the user may access via a browser. Thereafter,the user may be presented with responsive content, as well as one ormore related terms or phrases that the user may utilize to performadditional searches for responsive content.

Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to provide users of instantmessaging applications with vector terms, which may be used to accessresponsive content that is related to a conversation in which the useris participating. Embodiments of the present invention provide solutionswherein vector terms related to one or more users' instant messagingconversation are provided to the users during an instant messagingconversation, allowing the user to retrieve content associated with theone or more vector terms.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed towards systems, methods and computerreadable media comprising program code for providing one or more vectorterms with which content items may be retrieved, the one or more vectorterms related to one or more terms or phrases comprising an instantmessaging conversation. The method of the present invention comprisesretrieving one or more terms or phrases comprising an instant messagingconversation in which one or more users are participating. According toone embodiment of the present invention, retrieving one or more terms orphrases comprising an instant messaging conversation comprisesretrieving one or more terms or phrase from an instant messaging client.

The method of the present invention further comprises generating one ormore term vectors comprising one or more vector terms associated withthe one or more retrieved terms or phrases comprising the instantmessaging conversation. One or more vector terms are selected from saidterm vectors, which may comprise selecting a predetermined number ofvector terms from a given term vector.

The one or more selected vector terms are displayed to the one or moreusers participating in the instant messaging conversation. According toone embodiment of the present invention, the one or more vector termsare displayed in an instant messaging client. According to anotherembodiment of the present invention, the one or more vector terms aredisplayed in a browser.

An indication of a user selection of a given displayed vector term isreceived and one or more content items responsive to the selected vectorterm are identified. According to one embodiment of the presentinvention, the selected vector term is delivered to a search engine, andthe one or more content items responsive to the selected vector term, asidentified by the search engine, are retrieved. The one or more contentitems identified as responsive to the selected vector term maythereafter be displayed.

The present invention is further directed towards a system for providingone or more vector terms with which content items may be retrieved, theone or more vector terms related to one or more terms or phrasescomprising an instant messaging conversation. The system of the presentinvention comprises a vector term generator operative to generate one ormore term vectors comprising one or more vector terms associated withone or more terms or phrases comprising an instant messagingconversation. The system of the present invention further comprises aninstant messaging component operative to retrieve one or more terms orphrases comprising an instant messaging conversation in which one ormore users are participating. According to one embodiment of the presentinvention, the instant messaging component is operative to retrieve aninstant messaging conversation from an instant messaging client.

The instant messaging component is further operative to display one ormore vector terms identified by the vector term generator to the one ormore users participating in the instant messaging conversation.According to one embodiment of the present invention, the instantmessaging component is operative to deliver the one or more retrievedterms or phrases comprising an instant messaging conversation to thevector term generator and receive one or more term vectors comprisingone or more vector terms. The instant messaging component thereafterselects one or more vector terms from the one or more term vectors,which may comprise selecting a predetermined number of vector terms fromthe one or more term vectors. The instant messaging component maydisplay the one or more selected vector terms, which may comprisedisplaying the one or more vector terms in an instant messaging clientor in a browser.

The instant messaging component is further operative to receive anindication of a user selection of a given displayed vector term anddisplay one or more content items responsive to the selected vectorterm. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the systemof the present invention further comprises a search engine operative toreceive a selected vector term from the instant messaging component andidentify one or more content items responsive to the selected vectorterm. The instant messaging component may display the one or morecontent items identified as responsive to the selected vector term bythe search engine to the user that selected a given vector term.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawingswhich are meant to be exemplary and not limiting, in which likereferences are intended to refer to like or corresponding parts, and inwhich:

FIG. 1 presents a block diagram illustrating a system for providingvector terms with which content items related to an instant messagingconversation may be retrieved, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 presents a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing oneor more vector terms to one or more participants of an instant messagingconversation, according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 presents a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a methodfor displaying one or more content items responsive to a given vectorterm, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way ofillustration specific embodiments in which the invention may bepracticed. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilizedand structural changes may be made without departing from the scope ofthe present invention.

FIG. 1 presents a block diagram illustrating a system for providingvector terms to retrieve content items for one or more usersparticipating in an instant messaging conversation. According to theembodiment that FIG. 1 illustrates, one or more client devices 106 and108 are communicatively coupled to a network 104, which may include aconnection to one or more local and wide area networks, such as theInternet. According to one embodiment of the invention, a given clientdevice 106 and 108 is general-purpose personal computer comprising aprocessor, transient and persistent storage devices, input/outputsubsystem and bus to provide a communications path between componentscomprising the general-purpose personal computer. For example, a 3.5 GHzPentium 4 personal computer with 512 MB of RAM, 40 GB of hard drivestorage space and an Ethernet interface to a network. Other clientdevices are considered to fall within the scope of the present inventionincluding, but not limited to, hand held devices, set top terminals,mobile handsets, PDAs, etc.

A given client device 106 and 108 may be in communication with a contentprovider 102. The content provider 102 may maintain an instant messagingcomponent 114 providing users of client devices 106 and 108 with accessto one or more instant messaging applications, e.g., a web based instantmessaging application. For example, a given user of a client device 106and 108 may access the instant messaging component 114 via the network104, which may allow the user to download a given instant messagingclient, such as the Yahoo! Messenger client, for local installation andexecution on the client device 106 and 108

The one or more instant messaging applications provided by the instantmessaging component 112 allows a first user of client device 106 and 108to communicate with a second user of a client device 106 and 108 via thenetwork 104. A given user of a client device 106 and 108 that downloadsa given instant messaging client may enter one or more terms or phrases,such as through use of a keyboard, in the instant messaging client anddeliver the one or more terms or phrases to another user of a clientdevice 106 and 108 communicatively coupled to the network 104 that alsoexecuting an instance of the instant messaging client. Similarly, thesecond user of a client device 106 and 108 may deliver one or more termsor phrases to the first user of a client device 106 and 108 via thenetwork by entering one or more terms or phrases into the instantmessaging client. Communication thereby evolves as a conversationbetween the first user and the second user, which may include aplurality of second users.

The instant messaging component 112 at the content provider 102 isoperative to retrieve the one or terms or phrases delivered to and froma first user of a client device 106 and 108 and a second user of aclient device 106 and 108 participating in a given instant messagingconversation. According to one embodiment of the present invention, theinstant messaging component 112 is operative to periodically retrievethe one or more terms or phrases one or more users of client devices 106and 108 participating in a given instant messaging conversationexchange. For example, the instant messaging component 112 may beoperative to retrieve the one or more terms or phrases exchanged betweenusers of client devices 106 and 108 participating in a given instantmessaging conversation every twenty seconds or every one minute.According to another embodiment of the present invention, the instantmessaging component 112 is operative to retrieve the one or more termsor phrases on the basis of the number of terms or phrases comprising agiven conversation. For example, the instant messaging component 112 mayretrieve every one hundred terms comprising a given conversation.

The one or more terms or phrases that the instant messaging component112 retrieves from a given instant messaging conversation are deliveredto a vector term generator 116 at the content provider 102. The vectorterm generator 116 may be operative to analyze the one or more terms orphrases comprising the conversation that the instant messaging component112 retrieves and generate one or more term vectors. The generation ofterm vectors is described more fully in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No.6,947,930, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTERACTIVE SEARCH QUERYREFINEMENT,” which was filed on Apr. 25, 2003, the disclosure of whichis hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The vector termgenerator 116 may be further operative to extract the most relevantvector terms from a given vector. In one embodiment, the vector termgenerator 116 may a set limit on the number of returned vector terms. Inan alternative embodiment, the number of vector terms that the vectorterm generator 116 selects may be a percentage of the total number ofvector terms that the vector term generator 116 generates. Otherthresholds should be apparent to those of skill in the art.

After the vector terms are determined on the basis of the one or moreterms or phrases comprising the conversation that the instant messagingcomponent 112 retrieves, the vector term generator 116 returns thevector terms to the instant messaging component 112. The one or morevector terms are thereafter displayed to the one or more users of clientdevices 106 and 108 participating in the instant messaging conversation.According to one embodiment of the present invention, the one or morevector terms are displayed in the instant messaging client.

A user may select one or more of the displayed vector terms through useof a selection device, such as a mouse or a keyboard. The instantmessaging component 112 is operative to detect user selection of a givenvector term and upon detecting selection of a given vector term by auser of a client device, deliver the selected vector term to a searchcomponent 120 at the content provider. The search component 120 may beoperative to search one or more content data stores, 110 and 118, forcontent items, such as web pages, residing thereon that are responsiveto a given vector term.

According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the search component120 utilizes an index data store 114 to identify a set of one or morecontent items from a content data store 110 and 118 that fall within thescope of one or more vector terms selected by a user of a client device106, and 108. The index data store 114 may comprise a list of wordlocation pairs that, given a vector term, is correlated with one or morecontent items associated with the vector term that are maintained in oneor more local or remote content data stores 110 and 118.

The search results identified by the search component 120 may bedisplayed to the user of the client device 106 and 108 that selected thegiven vector term. For example, the search component 120 may provide thesearch results responsive to the one or more vector terms ordered inaccordance with a determined relevancy to the vector term. According toone embodiment of the present invention, the search results identifiedas responsive to the vector term selected by the user of the clientdevice 106 and 108 are displayed in a browser on the client device 106and 108. A resultant search results page (not pictured) that the searchcomponent 120 provides to a client device 106 and 108 may have links orreferences to one or more content items for selection by a user of theclient device 106 and 108. Alternatively, the instant messagingcomponent 112 may display the data comprising the search results page inan ancillary window, such as a pop-up window.

As previously described, the conversation between one or more users ofparticipating in an instant messaging conversation may comprise aplurality of terms or phrases. Further, the duration of a given instantmessaging conversation may continue for several minutes, hours, etc.Accordingly, the instant messaging component 112 is operative toperiodically retrieve additional terms or phrases from the instantmessaging conversation between one or more users of client devices 106and 108 participating in an instant messaging conversation. The instantmessaging component 112, through use of the vector term generator 116,may continue to periodically retrieve terms or phrases from the instantmessaging conversation between one or more users of client devices 106and 108 and refine the vector terms displayed to the one or more users,e.g., in response to changing topic threads comprising a given instantmessaging conversation. Accordingly, users of client devices 106 and 108may continue to receive vector terms that are relevant with respect tothe instant messaging conversation. The users of client devices 106 and108 participating in the instant messaging conversation may thuscontinue to retrieve content, through use of the one or more vectorterms, that is associated with the instant messaging conversation.

Those of skill in the art recognize that while the system of FIG. 1illustrates two client devices 106 and 108, additional client devicesmay be communicatively coupled to the network 104. Accordingly, aplurality of users of client devices may participate in a given instantmessaging conversation. The instant messaging component 112 is operativeto retrieve the one or more terms or phrases comprising a given instantmessaging conversation from a plurality of client devices that mayparticipate in a given instant messaging conversation. For example, theinstant messaging component 112 is operative to retrieve the one or moreterms or phrases comprising a given instant messaging conversationoccurring in a chat room between a plurality of users.

FIG. 2 presents a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a methodfor providing one or more vector terms to one or more participants of agiven instant messaging conversation. According to the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 2, the method begins with retrieval of the instantmessaging conversation occurring between one or more users of clientdevices that are participating in a given instant messagingconversation. As previously described, users of client devices mayparticipate in an instant messaging conversation by downloading orotherwise accessing a given instant messaging client. A user may enterone or more terms or phrases into an instant messaging client anddeliver the one or more terms or phrases to another user that hasdownloaded or otherwise accessed an instant messaging client.Accordingly, retrieval of the instant messaging conversation, step 202,illustrated in FIG. 2 may comprise retrieval of the one or more terms orphrases entered by the one or more users of client devices participatingin a given instant messaging conversation.

According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, term vectors arecalculated that are associated with the one or more terms or phrasescomprising the retrieved instant messaging conversation, step 204. Termvectors are commonly known in the art and may comprise a number ofrelevant or important terms that are associated within the one or moreterms or phrases comprising a given instant messaging conversation. Whengenerating a term vector, weights may be associated with a given termwithin the vector, resulting in weighted vector that is operative toidentify the most relevant terms or phrases within an instant messagingconversation. The generation of term vectors is described fully inpreviously incorporated U.S. Pat. No. 6,947,930, the disclosure of whichis hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In one embodiment,only a subset of the terms or phrases comprising a given instantmessaging conversation is used to generate term vectors. The subsetutilized may correspond to the top N relevant terms or phrases within agiven instant messaging conversation. For example, the one or more termsor phrases within a given instant messaging conversation appearing atleast N times may be used to generate the one or more term vectors.Similarly, the N terms or phrases appearing with the greatest frequencywithin a given instant messaging conversation may be used to generatethe one or more term vectors. Alternatively, a plurality of terms orphrases within an instant messaging conversation may be utilized togenerate a comprehensive set of vectors from the result set.

According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, one or more vectorterms may be extracted from the one or more term vectors, step 206. Athreshold may indicate that the number of vector terms may not surpass athreshold, step 210. In accordance with one embodiment, this thresholdmay be determined prior to the calculation of vector terms. In analternative embodiment, the threshold may be determined based on thenumber of returned term vectors or the number of terms or phrasescomprising the instant messaging conversation. Various methodologies maybe employed to determine which terms from a given vector may be selectedfor use. For example, if a threshold of M vector terms is selected for aplurality of N vectors, an algorithm may be executed that selects thehighest ranked vector terms from vector 1, the highest term from vector2, etc., until the highest term from vector N is selected. The algorithmmay then repeat the process, starting with the second highest term fromvector 1. This process continues until reaching a threshold of N terms.Alternatively, an algorithm may scan the one or more term vectors togenerate a single vector of a plurality of terms, selecting the highestranked N terms from the single vector. Finally, if the number of vectorterms is within the defined threshold, step 208, the vector terms areprovided to the user, step 214. If the number of vector terms is abovethe defined threshold, step 208, a subset of the vector terms arediscarded, step 210.

After a number of vector terms below a defined threshold are selected,the terms are provided to the user, step 214. The vector terms may beprovided as hyperlinks displayed as part of a search result page on aclient display. For example, a plurality of vector terms may bedisplayed as text hyperlinks in a window or similar HTML container, suchas a DIV element. The vector terms may be displayed in conjunction withthe instant messaging client with which the one or more usersparticipating in the retrieved instant messaging conversation enter oneor more terms or phrases.

A given user participating in the instant messaging conversation towhich the one or more vector terms are displayed may select one or moreof the displayed vectors terms through use of a selection device, suchas a mouse or a keyboard. For example, a given user may select one ormore vector terms displayed on the user's client device, such as byclicking on a vector term represented by a hyperlink.

A check is performed to determine whether a given user participating inthe instant messaging conversation to which the one or more vector termsare displayed selects a given vector term, step 216. If a user selects agiven displayed vector term, a search engine is queried using theselected vector term, step 218, according to methods described herein. Aclient device with which the user queries the search engine receives thequery results for presentation to the user, step 220, wherein a check isperformed to determine if the user selects a given result comprising thequery results, step 222. Where the user does not select a resultcomprising the query results, e.g., the user does not select a link to acontent item that a search result page displays, program flow advancesto step 226, where a check is performed to determine whether additionalinstant messaging conversation, comprising one or more terms or phrases,is available for retrieval. If the user selects a result comprising thequery results, the vector terms are determined from term vectors for theresult, step 224, which may provide addition terms for presentation tothe user, e.g., step 214.

If a user does not select a given displayed vector terms, an additionalcheck is performed to determine whether additional instant messagingconversation, comprising one or more terms or phrases, is available forretrieval, step 226. If additional instant messaging conversation isavailable, the additional instant messaging conversation, comprising oneor more terms or phrase, is retrieved. One or more vector termsassociated with the additional retrieved instant messaging conversationare thereafter identified and displayed to the one or more usersparticipating in the instant messaging conversation.

FIG. 3 presents a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a methodfor retrieving one or more content items responsive to a given vectorterm displayed and selected by a user participating in a given instantmessaging conversation. According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG.3, an instant messaging conversation is retrieved, which as previouslydescribed, comprises one or more terms or phrases entered by users ofclient devices participating in an instant messaging conversation, step302. One or more vector terms associated with the one or more retrievedterms or phrases comprising the instant messaging conversation areidentified and displayed to the one or more users of client devicesparticipating in the retrieved instant messaging conversation, step 304.

A user of a client device participating in the retrieved instantmessaging conversation may select one or more of the displayed vectorterms, such as through of a mouse or keyboard. A check is performed todetermine whether one or more users participating in the retrievedinstant messaging conversation have selected one or more displayedvector terms, step 306. For example, when presenting the vector terms tothe user, the actions of the user may be monitored to determine if theuser selects one of the vector terms. In one embodiment, the monitoringof user selection may be accomplished with programming code constructsuch as JavaScript event handlers.

If the one or more users participating in the retrieved instantmessaging conversation do not select one or more of the displayed vectorterms, an additional check is performed to determine whether additionalinstant messaging conversation is available for retrieval, step 310. Forexample, a check may be performed to determine whether the one or moreusers participating in the retrieved instant messaging conversation haveentered one or more additional terms or phrases into the instantmessaging clients with which the users are participating in the instantmessaging conversation. If additional instant messaging conversation isavailable, the additional instant messaging conversation, comprising oneor more terms or phrases, is retrieved, step 302. If not additionalinstant messaging conversation is available, the one or more vectorterms identified as associated with the retrieved instant messagingconversation continue to be displayed, step 304.

According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, if a given userparticipating in the retrieved instant messaging conversation selects adisplayed vector term, the browser of the user that selected the vectorterm is launched, step 312. The selected vector term is thereafterdelivered to a search engine, step 314. For example, as previouslydescribed, the one or more vector terms displayed to a given userparticipating in an instant messaging conversation may comprisehyperlinks, which when selected result in the launching of the user'sbrowser and delivery of the selected vector term to a particular searchengine. In one embodiment, HTML may be utilized to hyperlink the vectorterms to a second page.

A search is thereafter performed by the search engine to identify one ormore content items responsive to the selected vector term, step 316. Theone or more content items identified as responsive to the selectedvector term may comprise a plurality of content, including, but notlimited to, one or more web page, advertisements, documents, audiocontent, or video content. The one or more content items identified asresponsive to the selected vector term are thereafter displayed to theuser that selected the vector term, step 318. For example, the one ormore responsive content items may be displayed in the browser launchedon the user's client device, as described above. The one or moreresponsive content items may be displayed in a list or similar rankingto indicate the degree to which the one or more responsive content itemsare relevant with respect to the selected vector term.

A check may be performed to determine if the user selects a given resultcomprising the query results, step 320. Where the user does not select aresult comprising the query results, e.g., the user does not select alink to a content item that a search result page displays, program flowadvances to step 310, where a check is performed to determine whetheradditional instant messaging conversation, comprising one or more termsor phrases, is available for retrieval. If the user selects a resultcomprising the query results, the vector terms are determined from termvectors for the result, step 322, which may provide addition terms forpresentation to the user, e.g., step 304.

FIGS. 1 through 3 are conceptual illustrations allowing for anexplanation of the present invention. It should be understood thatvarious aspects of the embodiments of the present invention could beimplemented in hardware, firmware, software, or combinations thereof. Insuch embodiments, the various components and/or steps would beimplemented in hardware, firmware, and/or software to perform thefunctions of the present invention. That is, the same piece of hardware,firmware, or module of software could perform one or more of theillustrated blocks (e.g., components or steps).

In software implementations, computer software (e.g., programs or otherinstructions) and/or data is stored on a machine readable medium as partof a computer program product, and is loaded into a computer system orother device or machine via a removable storage drive, hard drive, orcommunications interface. Computer programs (also called computercontrol logic or computer readable program code) are stored in a mainand/or secondary memory, and executed by one or more processors(controllers, or the like) to cause the one or more processors toperform the functions of the invention as described herein. In thisdocument, the terms “machine readable medium,” “computer program medium”and “computer usable medium” are used to generally refer to media suchas a random access memory (RAM); a read only memory (ROM); a removablestorage unit (e.g., a magnetic or optical disc, flash memory device, orthe like); a hard disk; or the like.

Notably, the figures and examples above are not meant to limit the scopeof the present invention to a single embodiment, as other embodimentsare possible by way of interchange of some or all of the described orillustrated elements. Moreover, where certain elements of the presentinvention can be partially or fully implemented using known components,only those portions of such known components that are necessary for anunderstanding of the present invention are described, and detaileddescriptions of other portions of such known components are omitted soas not to obscure the invention. In the present specification, anembodiment showing a singular component should not necessarily belimited to other embodiments including a plurality of the samecomponent, and vice-versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise herein.Moreover, applicants do not intend for any term in the specification orclaims to be ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitlyset forth as such. Further, the present invention encompasses presentand future known equivalents to the known components referred to hereinby way of illustration.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments so fully revealsthe general nature of the invention that others can, by applyingknowledge within the skill of the relevant art(s) (including thecontents of the documents cited and incorporated by reference herein),readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specificembodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from thegeneral concept of the present invention. Such adaptations andmodifications are therefore intended to be within the meaning and rangeof equivalents of the disclosed embodiments, based on the teaching andguidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseologyor terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not oflimitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the presentspecification is to be interpreted by the skilled artisan in light ofthe teachings and guidance presented herein, in combination with theknowledge of one skilled in the relevant art(s).

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample, and not limitation. It would be apparent to one skilled in therelevant art(s) that various changes in form and detail could be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of theabove-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only inaccordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A computerized method for providing one or more of vector terms onthe basis of which content items may be retrieved, the one or morevector terms related to one or more terms or phrases comprising aninstant messaging conversation, the method comprising: retrieving,periodically during an instant messaging conversation, one or more termsor phrases comprising the instant messaging conversation in which one ormore users are participating; electronically, generating, via aprocessing device, one or more term vectors comprising one or morevector terms associated with the one or more retrieved terms or phrasescomprising the instant messaging conversation; electronically,selecting, via the processing device, one or more vector terms from saidterm vectors, the one or more selected vector terms associated withterms or phrases appearing with the greatest frequency in the instantmessaging conversation and are periodically updated based on one or moretopic changes in the instant messaging conversation; electronicallyproviding the one or more selected vector terms to the one or more usersparticipating in the instant messaging conversation during the instantmessaging conversation, wherein the provided vector terms areperiodically refreshed; receiving an indication of a user selection of agiven provided vector term; generating a query associated with theselected vector term; providing links to one or more content itemsresponsive to the query associated with the selected vector term; andretrieving the one or more content items responsive to the queryassociated with the selected vector term.
 2. The method of claim 1wherein retrieving one or more terms or phrases comprises retrieving oneor more terms or phrases from an instant messaging client.
 3. The methodof claim 1 wherein selecting one or more vector terms comprisesselecting a predetermined number of vector terms from a given termvector.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the one or moreselected vector terms comprises providing the one or more vector termsin an instant messaging client.
 5. The method of claim 1 whereinproviding the one or more selected vector terms comprises displaying theone or more vector terms in a browser.
 6. The method of claim 1 whereinretrieving one or more content items responsive to the query associatedwith the selected vector term comprises: delivering the selected vectorterm to a search engine; and retrieving the one or more content itemsresponsive to the selected vector term as identified by the searchengine.
 7. The method of claim 6 further comprising providing the one ormore content items identified as responsive to the selected vector term.8. Computer readable media comprising program code for execution by aprogrammable processor to perform a method for providing one or morevector terms with which content items may be retrieved, the one or morevector terms related to one or more terms or phrases comprising aninstant messaging conversation, the computer readable media comprising:program code for retrieving, periodically during an instant messagingconversation, one or more terms or phrases comprising the instantmessaging conversation in which one or more users are participating;program code for generating one or more term vectors comprising one ormore vector terms associated with the one or more retrieved terms orphrases comprising the instant messaging conversation; program code forselecting one or more vector terms from said term vectors, the one ormore selected vector terms associated with terms or phrases appearingwith the greatest frequency in the instant messaging conversation andare periodically updated based on one or more topic changes in theinstant messaging conversation; and program code for providing the oneor more selected vector terms to the one or more users participating inthe instant messaging conversation during the instant messagingconversation, wherein the provided vector terms are periodicallyrefreshed; program code for receiving an indication of a user selectionof a given provided vector term; program code for generating a queryassociated with the selected vector term; and program code foridentifying one or more content items responsive to the query associatedwith the selected vector term.
 9. The computer readable media of claim 8wherein the program code for retrieving one or more terms or phrasescomprises program code for retrieving one or more terms or phrases froman instant messaging client.
 10. The computer readable media of claim 8wherein the program code for selecting one or more vector termscomprises program code for selecting a predetermined number of vectorterms from a given term vector.
 11. The computer readable media of claim8 wherein the program code for providing the one or more selected vectorterms comprises program code for providing the one or more vector termsin an instant messaging client.
 12. The computer readable media of claim8 wherein the program code for providing the one or more selected vectorterms comprises program code for providing the one or more vector termsin a browser.
 13. The computer readable media of claim 8 wherein theprogram code for identifying one or more content items responsive to thequery associated with the selected vector term comprises: program codefor delivering the selected vector term to a search engine; and programcode for retrieving the one or more content items responsive to theselected vector term as identified by the search engine.
 14. Thecomputer readable media of claim 13 further comprising program code forproviding the one or more content items identified as responsive to theselected vector term.
 15. A system for providing one or more vectorterms with which content items may be retrieved, the one or more vectorterms related to one or more terms or phrases comprising an instantmessaging conversation, the system comprising: a vector term generatoroperative to generate one or more term vectors comprising one or morevector terms associated with one or more terms or phrases comprising aninstant messaging conversation, and select one or more vector terms fromthe term vectors, the one or more vector terms associated with terms orphrases appearing with the greatest frequency in the instant messagingconversation and are periodically updated based on one or more topicchanges in the instant messaging conversation; and an instant messagingcomponent operative to: retrieve, periodically during an instantmessaging conversation, one or more terms or phrases comprising theinstant messaging conversation in which one or more users areparticipating; display one or more vector terms identified by the vectorterm generator to the one or more users participating in the instantmessaging conversation during the instant messaging conversation,wherein the displayed vector terms are periodically refreshed; receivean indication of a user selection of a given displayed vector term;display links to one or more content items responsive to a queryassociated with the selected vector term; and retrieve the one or morecontent items responsive to the query associated with the selectedvector term.
 16. The system of claim 15 wherein the instant messagingcomponent is operative to retrieve one or more terms or phrasescomprising an instant messaging conversation from an instant messagingclient.
 17. The system of claim 15 wherein the instant messagingcomponent is operative to: deliver the one or more retrieved terms orphrases comprising an instant messaging conversation to the vector termgenerator; receive one or more term vectors comprising one or morevector terms; and select one or more vector terms from the one or moreterm vectors.
 18. The system of claim 17 wherein the instant messagingcomponent is operative to select a predetermined number of vector termsfrom the one or more term vectors.
 19. The system of claim 17 whereinthe instant messaging component is operative to display the one or moreselected vector terms.
 20. The system of claim 19 wherein the instantmessaging component is operative to display the one or more selectedvector terms in an instant messaging client.
 21. The system of claim 19wherein the instant messaging component is operative to display the oneor more selected vector terms in a browser.
 22. The system of claim 15further comprising a search engine operative to: receive a selectedvector term from the instant messaging component; and identify one ormore content items responsive to the selected vector term.
 23. Thesystem of claim 22 wherein the instant messaging component is operativeto display the one or more content items identified as responsive to theselected vector term by the search engine to the user that selected thevector term.